Cellular mobile terminals and many other types of wireless communication devices undergo stringent Over The Air (OTA) tests before being released to the market. Promoted by CTIA (Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association), OTA testing attempts to measure the performance of a device's communication components (antenna, amplifier, receiver and electronics) closer to the environment in which they will be used.
The RF excitations that devices are subjected to are no longer just an RF source in pulsed or continuous wave (CW) modes, but, instead, can be generated by a Base Station Simulator (BSS). The BSS can be configured to communicate using protocols such as Global Standard for Mobile (GSM) communication, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE), Integrated Digital Enhancement Network (iDEN), code division multiple access (CDMA), wideband-CDMA, CDMA2000, and/or Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), IEEE 801.11a-g standards, Bluetooth, and/or other standard/nonstandard communication protocols.
Two types of chambers that can be used for OTA testing of a communication device are anechoic chambers and Scattered Field Chambers (SFC). Scattered Field Chambers (also called Mode Stir Chamber, reverberation chambers RC, and, in Swedish, modväxlarkammare) may, in some instances, provide faster, cheaper, and/or more reliable measurement setup compared to anechoic chambers.
In contrast to prior device testing techniques that focused on measuring antenna efficiency, OTA testing is often focused on more complex active measurement of a communication device's total radiated power (TRP) and total isotropic sensitivity (TIS). At least some existing techniques for measuring TIS can be particularly complex/difficult to carry-out because they can require accurate testing and measurement at power levels down to about −110 dBm and Block Error Rates (BLER) down to an accuracy of 0.1% units for UMTS communications and an accuracy of 0.5-1% units for GSM communications.